lenora_rose | Four Things

Colin's birthday today.

I made a faux pas about that earlier in the week, fortunately in the right direction. Mom was asking us about which restaurant we'd like to do to, and Colin had one suggestion, except that he'd rather do their (excellent) lunch buffet than the full dinner thing (no buffet and also very high on the expensive side), and of course, I was working...

I said, "Well, if it's just the expense, you could always wait a year and do that for your 40th."

He looked at me for a bit, then said, "That's Thursday."

I honestly did think, "But wait, I'm only 34. And he's 5 years and a bit older than me..."

Of course, I'll be turning 35 just over a month, which is rather more to the point.

We ended up at the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant, something none of Jeff, nor mom, nor I had actually done (We've all had chocolate fondue, of course, and it's not like we didn't know about the other kinds.) Very nice, and the meal we ordered, designed for 4 people to share, seemed pretty well balanced to come out to leaving everyone full without too much chance of overstuffing (I probably still had too much of the cheese fondue and the fruit at the end, with or without fondue.)
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We're going to be out of town the next few days, travelling Saskatchewan-wards for a short anniversary getaway. (Colin's already checked the highways, and we'll be able to get past flood-free.)
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The RCC building is right next to the Assiniboine. I felt mildly better that the river level dropped *slightly* this week, but I hear the crest is actually about a week away.

It's looking grim, rushing with matted debris and a sense of unpleasance -- and I've seen it as high, or close to as high, as it is now before, without feeling quite this oppressed by the height of the water or the speed. The Assiniboine usually gives me the feeling of being the friendlier of the rivers (being smaller and thus more navigable), but not right now. The Red crested over a week ago, and while far from benign (as any number of farmers and small towns walled in by dikes can attest), it's *not* the one that caused this to be a 300-year flood year.

Well-wishings for those for whom this is a life-altering situation, not merely an observation from a safe distance.
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I first heard "So Far From the Clyde" (The current track playing on Get Lucky) in too close proximity to reading Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette's dragon stories, and having not caught all the lyrics, the song indelibly imprinted itself on my mind as being about a dragon corpse collapsing into jewels on the shore, mourned by the humans who worked with her, but her body stripped by the pragmatic and poor people of the country where they found themselves. It's not any less cool as the song it really is, about a steam-ship being grounded then stripped for parts, but the other image lingers in spite of having heard the real details.

(And seriously. Read both those stories. That exact image doesn't exist in either, but they're amazing.)